Camilo and I whipped out heads around to look at Amelia and our friends. Amelia had gotten up from the lounge chair and was standing in front of Emilio and Ruben protectively. Her shoulders were tense and she was glaring at something or someone angrily. Emilio was helping Ruben stand up, probably to get away from whatever Amelia had shouted at.
I tried to look at where Amelia and the rest of our friends were glaring at, Camilo did the same. Then I saw that they were glaring at Hugo, who was standing awkwardly at the door frame. Hugo made eye contact with me, silently pleading for me to explain. Camilo was by my side and his hand squeezed mine extra tightly when he saw Hugo. His shoulders were tense and his breath hitched. I gave Camilo two quick squeezes back to calm him down.
"I-I uh..." Hugo began, staring at me.
"Guys, I invited him," I said, trying to diffuse the situation.
Emilio and Amelia turned their heads to me.
"What?" Amelia asked softly, "Why would you do that?"
"Y/n, you saw what he did to Ruben..." Emilio chimed in "Look! Ruben loves swimming and he can't because of Hugo!"
"I invited him so that he could apologize!" I explained.
Camilo still hadn't let go of my hand, he was clearly still uncomfortable with Hugo's presence but I was hoping that by the end of this, they would be able to at least be in the same room with each other.
Hugo nodded at me, confirming that he was in fact here to try and apologize.
"What?" Amelia asked hesitantly "But..."
"I don't believe you!" Emilio exclaimed "This is a trap or something. Hugo has done worse to other people but he's never apologized, why would he apologize now?"
The way that they had described Hugo to me, even before the pool party, made him seem like some kind of unforgivable monster that had no feelings. I understand that he had been a horrible person to many people but the way that they talked about him seemed almost like he wasn't a person at all. I knew that the way people talked about him was definitely part of what made him so bitter.
I was just going to reply on Hugo's behalf but he decided to try and talk to them himself.
"It's true, Y/n invited me so I could apologize" Hugo said "I...I really want to."
There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence between all of us. The sounds of children cheering were still in the background so it was quite awkward.
"Guys, I think we should hear him out," Ruben said, breaking the silence.
"Ruben, what?" Emilio asked him quietly "He hurt you. You have to wear real bandages because of him, he did this to you."
"I know, Em" Ruben replied "But I trust Y/n, if they say that Hugo is here to apologize then I think we should let Hugo stay."
I could see in Amelia and Emilio's eyes that they were deep in thought. Eventually, Emilio nodded and his face softened. Ruben gave a genuine smile in Hugo's direction which obviously caught Hugo off guard. Amelia backed off and relaxed back into her lounge chair but she diidn't seem any less hostile towards Hugo.
I walked up to Hugo, Camilo still clutching my hand softly. I could tell that Camilo was somewhat resisting going towards Hugo but it was some kind of progress that he was following me to Hugo at all. Hugo was wearing dark red swim shorts with a black and white diamond pattern on it. He was also wearing the same tooth necklace that he always wore. I assumed that the necklace was a family thing since in the family picture that Camilo and I had seen earlier, everyone was wearing that same necklace. Oddly enough, he was clutching his grey gloves in his hands, he wasn't wearing them because he probably couldn't swim with them but he still brought them around. I wondered why until my thought were interupted by Hugo.
"That was...a lot" Hugo said, chuckling a little bit.
"Yeah, I guess it was" I said "Well, there are some refreshments on the other side of the pool deck, if you want any."
"I was just about to go there actually" Camilo said quickly "Y/n, do you want anything?"
"Um, just some orange juice if there is any" I answered, smiling at him.
Camilo opened his mouth to say something but he was clearly hesitating. He turned ot Hugo and did his best to smile at him.
"How about you, Hugo?" Camilo asked.
Hugo was clearly confused as to why Camilo was talking to him at all but he answered anyway.
"I like raspberry juice..." Hugo replied quietly.
Camilo then let go of my hand with a smile before running off to the refreshments bar. I couldn't tell whether or not he did that to try and be nice to Hugo or if he did it just to get away from Hugo for a few minutes.
"Y/n, I don't think I can do this" Hugo said, running his hand over his face "They hate me."
"Yeah, pretty much" I replied casually.
"Wow, thanks Y/n" Hugo said, holding back a smile.
"I'm just being honest!" I exclaimed "But don't worry, it's a pool party, pool parties were made for relaxation. If there was ever a time to apologize to them without them lashing out too hard, it would be now."
Hugo nodded at me, still deep in thought. He was probably trying to think about when the perfect time to apologize would be. Then Camilo came back, holding three drinks.
"Hey!" Camilo exclaimed happily "Orange juice for Yn, pineapple juice for me and raspberry juice for...Hugo."
"Thanks, Cami" I replied, taking the cup with orange juice from Camilo.
"Thanks" Hugo said briefly.
"Hey Hugo" Camilo began "You can totally say no but Y/n and I just finished a round of hide and seek and I was thinking that my friends should play too. If you want, you could join us."
"Hide and seek?" Hugo asked "I don't...I don't know what that is..."
Camilo tilted his head in confusion.
"You don't know what 'hide and seek' is?" Camilo asked "No way, I don't believe you."
Hugo furrowed his eyebrows and stayed silent for a moment.
"You really don't know?" Camilo asked, causing Hugo to shake his head "Well, it's fun! It's a game!"
"Sounds childish" Hugo replied "Alright, I'll play. As long as it's not too dangerous, your friends might try to kill me if it is."
That caused Camilo to laugh. Camilo was laughing at something Hugo had said. I counted this as progress. It seemed like they were really trying to make amends and were trying to be friends, which made me happy. Camilo wasn't cowering in fear because of Hugo's general presence and Hugo wasn't shooting him looks of digust or avoiding him and his friends. Now that I think about it, Hugo was actually smiling.
"C'mon, let's go get the others to play" Camilo said, taking my hand and moving towards Ruben, Amelia and Emilio.
Hugo was staring at our hands, clearly zoned out.
"Hey, you coming?" I asked.
Hugo snapped out of his trance and nodded at me before following us towards our friends.